Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

“Ruin!” Rami shouted and jumped away from Varthon’s wings. She crashed into Ruin, and he stumbled backward.

Ruin returned the hug as he watched Varthon struggle to remove the color staining his wings. Ruin didn’t know what the Void Wyrm tried but nothing seemed to work until, in a fit of anger, the Void Wyrm oozed Void Energy from his body.

Even this took a few seconds to eat through whatever Ruin had done. By then Rami had released him and was also studying Varthon.

“You should leave it,” Rami said. “Color suits you.”

“Nonsense,” the Void Wyrm responded. Finished removing the color, he transformed into his human form and glared at Rami. “Why in the void did you make that rip so large?”

Rami blushed and stole a quick glance at Ruin before facing her father. She returned the glare. “Large? It was hard to make an exit so small.”

Varthon rolled his eyes and Ruin suppressed a laugh. Rami had obviously been showing off wanting to impress Ruin with her new ability.

“Your control was superb,” Varthon admitted, “but you likely killed everything within a mile with such a flamboyant display.”

Rami blushed again.

“Only five hundred feet,” Ruin said. “Past that everything was just puking.”

Rami stood straight and gave Varthon an “I told you so” look.

Varthon sighed and Ruin couldn’t hide his smile this time. He wondered how many times the Void Wyrm had sighed or rolled his eyes in the past week.

That thought shocked Ruin. Week? That couldn’t be.

“Did you come back early?” Ruin asked.

Rami shook her head. “No, I’ve been keeping track.”

Ruin turned and looked back at the way he’d come. From his location to the horizon nothing remained but torn up ground and dead bodies. Thousands and thousands of dead bodies.

The soft glow of Notifications filled the bottom of Ruin’s vision.

Ruin focused on Overlord. Have we been doing this for five days?

That seems about right. Even I’m ready for a break.

Rami slapped Ruin’s shoulder, and he focused on her.

“I was supposed to arrange a meeting with you two and your mother,” Ruin said.

“That will need to wait,” Varthon said immediately.

Ruin didn’t argue and turned to Rami. “What an amazing portal. Huge, and the edges were perfect. Not a single jagged seam.”

Rami beamed and she shot another meaningful glance at Varthon.

“Yes, yes, you’re a prodigy,” Varthon said. “But still irresponsible. I’m not sure what’s going on with your friend here, but you’d have killed anything else in this Universe.”

Varthon faced Ruin. “How did you survive? Not only survive, but you advanced on the Void. Such proximity is only possible for my kind.”

Ruin shrugged. “I’m not sure, but that sensation gets easier to manage every time.” He turned to Rami. “It won’t be long, and you can show me how to get around out there.”

Rami grinned but Ruin didn’t miss the disbelief and anger in Varthon’s expression.

Ruin suspected the Void had seeped into him through Rami and he needed to understand it better even if that upset Varthon. Without trying Ruin had created multiple Realms worth of enemies in the Outerverse, and he didn’t want another adversary so close. Rami was part of Ruin which meant Varthon was, in a sense, family to him.

“Why does my Void Resistance bother you?” Ruin asked Varthon.

Varthon acted surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Stop,” Ruin replied. “I know you despise the fact Rami and I are soulbound. Is that the extent of your displeasure? Or does my resistance to the Void bother you as well? We need to sort this out right now before whatever thoughts you have take root and everything turns ugly. Believe me, things always get ugly around me eventually. Which is why I’m forcing this conversation now.”

Rami looked confused and Ruin placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. I just want your father to be honest with me. I’ve made a lot of enemies in the Outerverse, and I need to know if your father is one of them.”

Rami tensed and anger caused her face to flush. She turned to her father.

Varthon raised his hands. “Hold on. Ruin’s right, we should talk about this. Talk. Not yell.”

Rami visibly took control of herself and nodded, keeping her anger coiled tight, like a whip ready to snap.

“Most consider Void Wyrms a necessary evil,” Varthon said. “We’re required to build bridges to new universes. Without us, a universe risks isolation from the Outerverse in general and their faction in specific which is like a death sentence.”

“Why a necessary evil?” Ruin asked.

“Some Void Wyrms, motivated by greed or necessity, will create secret or hidden paths. Factions use them to attack the universes of opposing factions or steal critical resources from enemies. Void Wyrms are therefore hated as much as we are needed, and no one trusts us. We survive because there are so few of us and we are all part of the Primal faction, which remains neutral in the Radiant and Luminara conflict. In addition, the process of building bridges is time consuming and difficult, which minimizes the amount of damage any one Void Wyrm can do.”

“I’m telling him,” Rami said, her voice defiant.

Varthon spread his hands in resignation. “I expected as much. You reveal deeply guarded secrets with no regard to consequences. It’s another display of recklessness.”

“Having all the facts isn’t reckless,” Rami responded.

“It is when you risk an apocalypse that stretches the Outerverse. A human with detailed knowledge of how we navigate the Void, create anchors, and build bridges is a catalyst for the destruction of all things. Every Harmonic in the Outerverse couldn’t stop it.”

“You think Ruin can make anchors and bridges?” Rami asked.

Varthon laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Him knowing our secrets is enough to wage war over. The structure of the Outerverse is fragile, and only the pragmatic intervention of the Harmonics keeps everything balanced well enough to avoid collapse. The human faction leaders know enough about us that the revelation of a Perception Wyrm with the abilities of a Void Wyrm could birth a conflict that burns the Outerverse to ash. Despite your priceless value, no faction could risk you helping their enemies. That’s why you must hide in the Primal faction, where our secrets are protected.”

Varthon pointed at Ruin. “How would we hide him?”

“But he’s Saraph now, not human,” Rami said and quickly shot a glance at Ruin. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ruin said. “I’m still hopeful I can get my human body back.”

“That only makes it worse,” Varthon replied, his misery evident. “The Destruction Realm having such a capability would guarantee a Creation Realm response which, spoiler, would end all things.”

“You’re exaggerating,” Rami said.

Varthon sighed yet again. “I wish I was.” He turned to Ruin. “The reactions you’ve noticed are because of my feelings for Rami. I’m fearful of what her capabilities mean for the Primal faction and the balance of the Outerverse, but I’m confident we can keep her secrets. You are a complete subversion of reality. Worse, your power has grown in the last week. You came within five feet of a rift opening so large you were basically bathing in Void essence. That is, like everything else about you, impossible. If you ever escaped this cage Aeonrial placed you in, you will without a doubt cause the destruction of all things, including my daughter. So yes, Ruin Val’dor, you sense fear in me. What creature in their right mind wishes for the utter annihilation of existence. How could I not consider killing you.”

Rami gasped at that, but Ruin had already sensed this motivation in Varthon.

“But you haven’t tried,” Ruin stated.

Varthon looked down briefly before meeting Ruin’s gaze. “I’m not confident I could succeed, and if I die who will protect Rami?”

“I don’t need protection,” Rami said her indignation clear. “And you’d need to kill me first to get to Ruin.”

Varthon nodded at Rami. “You have your mother’s confidence, and while, in general, you’re correct, there are entities in the Outerverse that could kill you, me, and Ruin without effort.”

“Like a Zealot?” Ruin asked.

“Yes, like a Zealot.”

A piece of the puzzle fell into place for Ruin. “You hesitated to act against me because of my relationship with Rami, but that isn’t the real motivation for your behavior. The real reason you haven’t planned to deal with me is because you’re confident I’ll never leave this Universe.”

“Well, that’s true,” Rami said. “You made it clear you plan on staying here.”

Ruin shook his head but kept his eyes on Varthon. “No, not because of that. Your father isn’t that worried because he suspects one of the hundred Zealots is inside this cage with us. He’s confident this Zealot will kill me if I try and leave.”

Rami looked confused. “Why would this Zealot kill you? Wouldn’t they want to recruit you for the Luminara faction?”

Ruin responded with one of Lylan’s sayings. She used it a lot on Sift who had no self-control when it came to sweets. “Shade’s first rule: gold drowns the greedy.”

Rami turned to Varthon. “Is that true? They’d kill Ruin instead of getting his help?”

“Ruin is wise,” Varthon responded to Rami. “The gains with his help would be incalculable, but the risk of his betrayal would be just as dramatic. No faction would risk unleashing such an all or nothing strategy unless faced with their imminent demise. Ruin holds salvation in one hand and annihilation in the other. It’s safer to kill him than be forced to pick a hand.”

“Do you believe a Zealot is among us?” Ruin asked.

“Most likely,” Varthon responded.

“Do you have reasons?”

“The abundance of Luminara Soul magic and the absence of all other faction magic is the most obvious. The nihilist Lalquinrial and his Destruction Realm allies desperately desired potions to protect against Soul magic. Rami shared with me Lalquinrial’s desire to leave this Universe. You assumed those potions were to protect against the ocean of power around Five Tower Island. That energy might be part of their strategy, but it’s not their main plan.”

“Do you know their true plans?” Ruin asked.

“I just pieced this together as I taught Rami the basics of Void navigation. You already know time here advances much faster than in the Outerverse. Anyone leaving would never succeed at merging with the Outerverse timeline without addressing this enormous time burden. I thought the Destruction Realm would provide a solution for their returning citizens or perhaps Aeonrial would take care of it when this experiment concluded. But there is another option. One that fits with the facts.”

Varthon began pacing as he spoke. “Something has bothered me since I first suspected the presence of a Zealot in this Universe. How did they get here? The only route to this place is the passage I constructed. This path remains locked and requires a special key to open. I would sense anyone crossing this bridge.”

Ruin frowned thinking of the Tower roots he’d traveled back to the main Destruction Realm. “Your bridge isn’t the only thing linked to this Universe. Those towers on the island have a connection back to the original Towers in the Outerverse Destruction Realm. I’m assuming the Towers in the Material Realm and Creation Realm have something similar.”

Varthon stopped and stared at Ruin in disbelief. “How in the Void do you know about the roots?”

“We can discuss that later.” Ruin pointed at Varthon. “You’re the one giving the explanation and it’s already too long.”

Varthon tilted his head in thought, ignoring Ruin’s attempt at hurrying him. “It was you. You caused that surge. Do you have any idea the titanic waves you created in the Void. They’re still rippling outward. It’s like you want to die.” He waved an imaginary flag in the air. “Hello, Void. Please send your armies over here. Void take me, how did you accomplish such a thing?”

“Armies?” Rami said. “The Void has armies?”

Ruin stared in frustration at Varthon. “Can you please just finish explaining your theory.”

Varthon returned Ruin’s gaze for five seconds before responding. “How can one person create so many problems?”

“I get that a lot,” Ruin said. “Now please finish.”

“While teaching Rami how to navigate the Void I channeled many of my early lessons. It was one of these memories that gave me the clue I’d been missing. Void Wyrms can trust their instincts anywhere in the Void except for small areas under the Destruction Realm and over the Creation Realm. These locations contain energies that traverse the Void and disrupt our sense of direction. They pose a danger to Void Wyrms because this disorientation can leave us untethered.”

“Untethered?” Ruin asked.

“Rami will explain that to you shortly. The point is, if another Void Wyrm had created a parallel bridge to mine, but done it close to these roots, they could’ve hidden it from me. I never considered it before because we’re all taught from an early age to avoid these areas. It’s ingrained in us.”

“Why would another Void Wyrm risk it then?” Ruin asked.

Varthon winced.

Ruin nodded. “And now we’re getting somewhere. They’re here for you.”